The present invention relates to a meta-data display system for displaying meta data related to a video signal generated in a shooting operation, relates to a meta-data synthesis apparatus, a video-signal recording/reproduction apparatus and an imaging apparatus, which are employed in the meta-data display system, as well as relates to a meta-data display method adopted by the meta-data display system.
In recent years, in the field of producing video works such as movies and TV programs, effective utilization of meta data related to a video material obtained from a shooting operation is promoted. Meta data related to a video material is scene information representing attributes of the video material. The attributes include a scene number, a take number and a time code. Such meta data is referred to as scene-information meta data. The scene-information meta data is information utilized by people such as a cameraman and a director as information useful for identifying and/or managing video materials in the course of a shooting operation or after the shooting operation.
Traditionally, the scene-information meta data is displayed electronically by using typically an electronic slate apparatus or displayed as hand-written data. The electronic slate apparatus displaying scene-information meta data is presented in front of an imaging apparatus at the start point of time and end point of time of a shooting operation and photographed. In this way, the scene-information meta data is directly inserted into positions preceding and succeeding the video material and recorded as video data. For more information, referred to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 9-46627.
In the case of a shooting operation using a crane or a shooting operation using a steady-cam, however, the electronic slate apparatus cannot be directly presented in front of the imaging apparatus in some cases. In such cases, a shooting operation is carried out in accordance with time codes output by the electronic slate apparatus and a video material is recorded in a recording medium. On the other hand, the scene-information meta data is entered separately from the video material to a terminal such as a personal computer to be recorded therein along with time codes.
However, the conventional method of recording such meta data has a problem that, at the shooting site, the scene-information meta data and the like cannot be displayed synchronously with a video material. To put it concretely, by adoption of the technique to insert data displayed by the electronic slate apparatus into a video material, the meta data is recorded only at positions preceding and succeeding a video material produced in a shooting operation. In addition, with the technique to record meta data and a video material separately, the scene-information meta data and the like are not displayed even if the video material produced in a shooting operation is reproduced.
As a result, people such as a cameraman cannot confirm meta data related to a video material along with the video material in the course of an operation to shoot and record the video material or after the shooting and recording operation. It is thus very much inconvenient for the people such as a cameraman to be incapable of grasping meta data obtained in a shooting operation and checking a video material resulting from the shooting operation.